Scarab
Carved scarab beetle on front side. Head with eyes showing. A groove separates the prothorax from the wing cases (elytra), which are divided by a line. A V-shaped notch at the top of each wing-case. Legs are delineated. On an oval surface of the base, in an encircling, a horizontally arranged emblem is clumsily impressed. Its central part consists of an irregular oval (as a cartouche substitute) filled with three negligently executed signs. The exact translation and meaning of these signs are not clear. It could represent the name of Thutmose III (mn-ḫpr-rᶜ), denoting also the cryptographic form of Amun’s name, or possibly could even be read as aHA-rᶜ (Raa warrior). These signs are very carelessly executed, with two legs excessively large. The king’s name, Amun trigram, or Raa title, is additionally flanked by two m3ᶜt feathers filling the field on both sides, and another sun-disk to the left of an irregular oval. Its surface is strongly abraded, probably as a result of water activity. It belongs to mass-produced types representing a wide variety of workshops of late Egyptian and Eastern origin (Naukratis, Phoenician and Punic types). Finds of this kind dated to the 1st millennium BCE, especially to the second half, were very popular at many sites, mainly necropolises, around the Mediterranean, but until now are unknown on Adriatic shores. It is most likely a product of the Ptolemaic Period or the Late Roman Republic.
Catalogue entry
Scarab from the hard paste
Franciscan Monastery, Košljun
Archaeological collection
without inv. no.
Ancient Egypt, unknown location
Krk (Curicum), date unknown
Ptolemaic period (306-30 B.C.)
hard paste: carving
1.8 x 1.5 x 0.65 cm
Resources
- Tomorad, Mladen. „The Ancient Egyptian Antiquities in Institutional and Private Collections in Croatia“. U: Tomorad, Mladen (ur.). A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture conducted in Southeast Europe. Oxford, 2015: 31-58. 51.
- Tomorad, Mladen. „The Ancient Egyptian Collections in Croatia and the Project Croato-Aegyptica Electronica“. U: Derriks, Claire (ur.). Collections at risk: New Challenges in a New Environment - Proceedings of the 29th CIPEG Annual Meeting in Brussels, September 25-28, 2012, Royal Museums of Art and History Brussels, Belgium. Atlanta, 2017: 237-268. 238-239, 259-260.
- Tomorad, Mladen. „The Early Penetration of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts and Dissemination of the Cults of Egyptian Divinities in Istria and Illyricum (1st Millennium B.C.-1st Century A.D.)“. U: Tomorad, Mladen (ur.). A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture conducted in Southeast Europe. Oxford, 2015: 165-200. 186, no. 18, 193, fig. 141.
- Tomorad, Mladen. „The phases of penetration and diffusion of Egyptian artefacts and cults in the region of Istria and Illyricum (from the 7th c. B.C. to the 4th c. A.D.)“. U: Györy, Hedvig (ur.). Aegyptus et Pannonia V. Budapest, 2016: 185-226 + Plates 69-81. 196-197, 203-204.
- Tomorad, Mladen. Staroegipatska civilizacija, sv. II: Uvod u egiptološke studije. Zagreb, 2017. 83.
- Tomorad, Mladen; Sliwa, Joachim. “Tri staroegipatska skarabeja iz Arheološke zbirke franjevačkog samostana na Košljunu, Hrvatska - Three Ancient Egyptian scarabs from the Archaelogical Collection of the Franciscan Monastery on Košljun, Croatia”. Prilozi Instituta za arheologiju 32 (2015): 243-250. 245-247.
